Prep soccer: Viewmont rallies for comeback victory over Syracuse

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Thursday was just the third time all season that Viewmont found themselves trailing at the halftime break. But, unlike the other two games, the Vikings overcame the halftime deficit Thursday in a wild 4-3 comeback win over Syracuse.

After trailing 3-1 at the half, the Vikings mounted a furious comeback which was capped off by a stoppage time winner from senior forward Tori Page.

Page, who finished with two goals on the day, found herself unmarked in the 18-yard box in the waning moments of the match. The senior leader found enough space to get a shot off after being set up by junior Sailor Uffens and sent her shot into the bottom of the far-post corner to complete the Viking comeback in dramatic fashion.

"I saw Sailor coming across the 18, there were two girls on her and I just flew in," Page said. "I didn't even tell her to leave it, I just kicked it as hard as I could and it went in. I could not have done that without the hard work from my team and especially that assist from Sailor."

Not only did Page's goal complete a winning comeback, but it also ended a frustrating afternoon for the Vikings who statistically dominated the match from the opening whistle. Viewmont outshot Syracuse 13-4 in the first half with six shots on goal, as well as five corner kicks, yet only had a single goal to show for all of their efforts.

Then, in addition to their offensive woes, the Vikings allowed the Titans to score three goals in the first half. Two of those goals came in the span of three minutes, both allowed by egregious errors by the Viewmont backline.

"It was very frustrating," Viewmont starting goalkeeper McKenzie Cable said about her team's first half performance. "We lost sight of players we needed to be marking and we started pointing fingers toward the end of the half. We played much better as a team in the second half and it was an important win."

Viewmont head coach Spencer Keddington acknowledged that his team has struggled to get off to good starts in the past few games.

"We've been a little slugglish lately," Keddington said about his team's performances early in games. "We didn't need to make any big changes, we just needed to go out and care and play hard. In the second half, all of them really played hard for the entire 40 minutes. It really made a difference."

With Thursday's win, the 10-2 Vikings were able to keep pace with undefeated Davis at the top of Region 2. But, coach Keddington is choosing to focus on his team's composure in the second half rather than the region rankings.

"More important than being at the top of the region is the character that they showed. Obviously it's important to finish at the top, but we want to be in a position when the playoffs start to be rolling. Games like this definitely prepare you for that." 

• Viewmont's Sailor Uffens nets a goal and an assist in the 4-3 victory.

• Syracuse joins Davis and Woods Cross as the only teams to score more than one goal against Viewmont.

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